A space to lay down the words behind the images. From Asia to Africa to the Americas, the portraits are made, stories are recorded and lives are represented through photography.

Monday, September 29, 2014

The Image of Perfection + Mehndi, Banganga, Rajasthan, India, December of 2013

So here she is six weeks before the video below. When we arrived to visit the family for the first time, she was lying on a bench under the family tree, just behind me in the video. She barely moved, and her sisters and cousins all sat around her for support. The families nonetheless were happy to see us and wanted the photography to continue, so we did.

Just as we finished I looked her way and caught her smile. I asked her family for permission to ask for her portrait, and she fearlessly offered herself to the camera. The strength with which she held herself up for the sake of the image was deeply moving, and clear to all watching the process. Then halfway through the roll she put her hand over her mouth, kneeled to the ground and expelled a soft sigh. She was clearly in severe pain and walked back gently to the bench… all the while making sure that I was fine by sharing a smile with me.

This was the image made immediately before the reaction described above. I admire and adore her beyond words, and am happy that Humana People to People India has decided to reopen the school in her village. As a matter of fact, the school is run by her aunt, the older woman who makes an appearance in the video below. She is the inspiration behind my work in her village, and I am proud to have been given the chance to be of service to her and her community.

About Me

Halim Antonio Ina, Jr. is born in Managua, Nicaragua on June 17th, 1968 to parents of Lebanese descent. At the age of 5 and as a result of an earthquake, his family leaves for their ancestral home and lives in Zahle, Lebanon for the next five years. At the age of 10 his family heads for the United States due to the hostilities associated with the Lebanese Civil War beginning in 1975.

From his birth through his formal university education, he adheres to the principles laid down by his upbringing, following through with his training as a dentist and establishing a dental clinic. It is when he is instructed to purchase a camera for the documentation of his professional work that his passion for the image is discovered. This, coupled with his travels to his childhood home, allows him to have access to people from his imagination. Thus the photographer is born within the professional.

He proceeds to travel around the world, documenting the people in his path as an anthropologist takes notes. It is his time in India that transforms his photography. While working with a foundation in Old Delhi, he is shown to an alley. It is in this small space that he realizes the potential for his work, it is here that he is shown its meaning.

From this point forward, he uses his photography as a tool for raising awareness. His images are displayed and printed in order to show the public the good works of the various foundations associated with his photography, in order to gain funding for the projects from which the very subjects in his portraits benefit.

He returns to each country over the years, provides subjects with their own prints from the previous visit and proceeds to make their portraits once again. The single portrait is transformed into a study over time. It is this approach that fuels his desire to continue.